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“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God…and the dead were judged…according to their works” (Revelation 20:12).
In 1945, it became very evident to prominent Nazi officials that Germany was going to lose the war. A man named Paul Budin was the general manager of the HASAG company, the largest munitions company in Germany. During the war, they had worked thousands of Jewish laborers to death. Paul Budin lived in Leipzig, and as the Americans were approaching the city, he knew that he would be caught and treated as a war criminal.
Knowing that he was about to be caught, Paul Budin killed himself and many of his friends and family. He also destroyed all the HASAG company files, including the record of all those who had perished while working for them.
Paul Budin and his friends escaped being caught by the Americans and prosecuted as war criminals, but will they escape God’s judgment? No, for our verse today tells us that the wicked dead will be raised to stand before God, and will be judged for their works. We may be able to escape man’s judgment, but we cannot escape God’s.
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